-Vol 6: Dusk of An Era-

-Doom Fest(10): Part 1-

“When are we going to attack? Sakamoto, how long we have to wait? I want to have a duel with that man as soon as possible… I can't wait to feel his strength with my body.” Clara impatiently said, a very ambiguous line. Then realizing what her words sounded like, she blushed hard and quickly explained: “I didn’t mean that way.”

“I know what you mean, Clara. But, don’t you think you should learn to restain your mouth? you always say all the wrong things when agitated.” Sakamoto sighed as he continued to dial a number with his phone, “besides, I am waiting for our third helper. She has yet to appear.”

“Are you talking about that girl, what her name again?” Clara remembered the person but forgot her name.

“She didn’t have a name. Unlike us, she was bred to be a ghost by our guild. For her initial mission, I don’t know what her code name was, but for our mission, her code name was Fancy.” Sakamoto said before redialing the number once again. Luckily this time, it connected.

“Hello, Fancy? Where are you? We are waiting for you to have dinner, it’s getting late.” Sakamoto asked with his code word.

“I am here, waiting for you guys to arrive. Come quick, I have already booked the table.” A woman’s voice was heard over the phone, which was very calm and collected like that of cold winter wind.

“Alright, we are going now.” Sakamoto hung up the phone before breaking it into pieces. Then his hands started to emit red glow as the broken pieces of mobile was disintegrated further into a fine dust.

“Let’s go.” He said to Clara before fiddling with the armbands in his hand. Clara, on the other hand, gave a smile before pulling her guitar case from under the bed she was sitting on.

Letting it hang on her back, she said “okay” and followed Sakamoto from behind.

…

“I am here, waiting for you guys to arrive. Come quick, I have already booked the table.” A beautiful woman wearing a skintight black suit called her partner over her phone and hung it up before looking at the sky with a sigh, “Is this everything that you wanted?”

“Yeah.” Kenshin appeared behind her, holding his sword, pointing its tip to her neck. There was a cold look on his face as he inspected the familiar woman. Then he looked at her double weapon and shook his head, “I never expect of you to appear before me as an enemy… not even once, honest… even though you seem extremely suspicious that day.”

“And yet, you didn’t even hesitate before pointing that sword to my throat.” Despite standing at the edge of death, the woman didn’t seem to be that much bothered by it. She felt nothing. As if dying was just another day for her, life and death had lost meaning to her long ago.

“An enemy is an enemy. I can't just show them mercy when they wouldn’t even think twice before slicing my throat!” said Kenshin with a sigh, then continued, “any last words?”

“A lot actua---” before she could finish her words, the sword penetrated her neck, taking her life in an instant. The sword then started to glow purple that which enveloped the woman’s body as it started to disintegrate on the wind. Since he was standing behind her, Kenshin wasn’t able to see the serene look displayed on her face.

Even if he was, he wouldn’t have thought much of it, anyway.

Looking at her gradually disappearing body, he couldn’t help but sigh again. The first time they met was when he was sitting in that park’s chair, seemingly unsure of his future. It was actually her advice that made him come into a decision. They met again when he was assigned to eradicate the sea monsters as a fellow hunter in the same mission. That was the first time when a bout of suspicion grew in his heart. He started to suspect her of having another motive of coming to the mission, given how weirdly she behaved inside the huge boat as well as her suspicious retreat from the monster after his arrival.

That day, although seemingly left after Kenshin started to fight the monster, she was actually hiding behind a small island, watching his fight with the beast. She thought Kenshin wouldn’t notice. Unfortunately, she couldn’t hide from his nigh-omniscient map.

Today was the third time, and they met as enemies. And today was the last time they would ever meet… in forever.

As he saw her fading high heels being enveloped in the purple light, he started to recall how the things happened to the current state, starting from him detecting her presence on the map.

After setting the trap, under Kenshin’s instruction, everyone returned to their respective work. Chiba started to walk around with Z1(turned as Mrs. Yui). Joy and Kenshin both sat in the drawing-room and pretended to drink. Suddenly his map gave a loud beep, meaning someone entered his zone of detection. Opening the map discreetly, he saw a marker he put on a person he knew vaguely.

This marker was moving rather unsteadily, and before long, it appeared just outside Ellie’s bedroom. He stood up and whispered, “Joy, a rat entered into the trap. I am going to confront it. Take care of the other two when they appear.”

Joy nodded. Kenshin silently walked upstairs and slid Ellie’s door open. There he saw a woman in black lether outfit and a mask covering her everything standing closer to a sleeping Ellie and Axel. She was initially surprised at the sudden clicking of the door and froze for a second. But her actions were quick. She grabbed into Axel’s neck, pressing her finger to his neck and said: “stop! Don’t move, or I will puncture her neck.”

Her voice was soft and had a cold undertone to it, which made Kenshin rather suspicious as it didn’t sound like the woman whom he tagged with this particular marker. Even so, he didn’t show any reaction and continue to advance towards her. His eyes looking at her eyes, which was covered in green goggles.

“You think I am joking? Stop there or he gets it,” the woman warned again. She was although warning Kenshin and the later, wasn’t listening to her at all… despite that, she didn’t backtrack. From her childhood, she was trained to be a professional killer of killers, and be the hunter of hunters.

What kind of opponent she hadn’t seen?

She even had once dealt with a hunter who allowed his whole family and group to be killed just to mount a sneak attack on her. Ultimately he failed and died by her hands in the most gruesome way possible. Therefore Kenshin’s gradual closing on her didn’t cause much change to her stance. She was still confident enough to bring him down, though it will take a lot of effort in her part.

When the bio of the target reached her table, she first surprised to see his picture. He was the first person she made an acquaintance without any alter motives, the first time she met him, she only gave a piece of advice. The second time she came to know his formidable strength when he alone dealt with that disgusting tentacled creature. This was the third time she was meeting him and this time, its an order from her superior to kill him.

Once again, the girl sighed and lamented her cursed fate. Again and again, she had to lose people close to her and by her own hands no less… it had already become a curse to her. But she couldn’t disobey the orders, and thus once again, by killing her heart, she decided to finish him off in a fast and painless way.

That’s the least she could do for him.